Land and Planning Rights

The Arab minority in Israel has long suffered state discrimination in matters of land and planning rights. Dating back to the 1950 Absentees' Property Law, used to seize control of land owned by the Palestinian refugees forced to flee in 1948, Israel has used legal implements to marginalize Arab citizens. Since then, Israel has consistently employed a discriminatory land distribution policy. While over 1000 new Jewish communities have been established, not a single Arab settlement has been authorized. Jewish settlements in the Naqab are retroactively recognized, while Bedouin villages that pre-date Israel's independence are not – left without water, electricity, or infrastructure. Arab towns and villages are over-represented among the state's lowest socioeconomic tiers.

Adalah is actively challenging these laws from a range of angles across the country. Our legal advocacy efforts include, among others, petitioning the courts and planning committees against forced evictions and home demolitions in the Naqab; attacking the JNF for making land available only to Jews; challenging the state's refusal to recognize or provide services to Arab villages and neighborhoods; objecting to planning decisions which prioritize Jewish settlements over Arab ones; and seeking to overturn policies which discriminate against Arabs in the provision of mortgages and housing assistance.

A complete list of cases is available here. To filter by specific topics, use the links above: